Bottled Secrets
by ThraeNavnik
Summary: Time Man was just looking for a place to get away from his family for a while so he could relax. He didn't expect to find someone already there, and he most certainly didn't expect the secret that they had to share with him.


Time Man sighed as he slowly made his way up the hill. He could still hear the distant cheers of everyone in the city celebrating the activation day of his brother.

Time Man enjoyed this day and he loved his brothers, but spending extended periods of time with them was both physically and mentally exhausting, especially when a big celebration like Rock's activation day was going on. He'd already informed Elec Man and Rock that he was heading out on a walk so that they wouldn't get concerned. He wasn't planning on being gone too long, just a couple hours at the most.

The hill was the best place to spend New Years or any celebration when things got too loud; it wasn't too far or too close to the city so he could sit there and listen to the sounds of the people celebrating without being too bothered by it. He could still see the fireworks in the distance as well and he was still within the range for his brothers to contact him through the internal messaging system all Robot Masters were built with in case anything happened.

He paused suddenly, the edges of his lips tugging downward into a frown as he noticed someone was already there. The hill wasn't exactly a secret-plenty of people liked to sit up there on sunny days and hang out with their friends, family or significant others-but it was _who_ was there that bothered him.

At first, Time Man didn't recognize him. He'd never formally met the other robot before, only heard stories about him. The last he had heard of him was from a month ago, when Star Man arrived suddenly at the Light house and asked them to keep an eye out for a missing brother of his who had vanished for seemingly no reason at all. They had promised Star Man they'd keep an eye out for him, though, admittedly, no one really looked for him. Time Man was understandably surprised to find him by accident.

He stepped forward, but he didn't get a chance to say anything before a spear was pointed at his throat. His face paled and he instinctively raised his hands to show he was weaponless and not a threat. The robot stared at him with cold, green eyes, examining every bolt and scratch on Time Man's armor before he slowly lowered the spear, deciding the Light bot wasn't a threat to him.

"I thought you were someone dangerous," he said, avoiding the smaller robot's gaze. Time Man decided to ignore that comment and crossed his arms over his chest. He wouldn't deny that he was quite literally shaking in his boots from terror. He'd heard and seen what this particular robot could do, and he was relieved that the robot had not chosen to attack him.

"What are you doing out here?" Time Man asked after a few moments. The robot eyed him warily before turning away so his back was facing him.

"Nothing, really," he answered quickly, sitting down in the soft grass. "Just watching the fireworks. It sort of reminds me of New Years. Has it really been that long already?"

"Not yet," Time Man said. "It is Rock's activation day. Speaking of which, I am surprised you have not gone down and attacked him yet."

"I don't really feel like fighting today," The robot admitted. "Besides, what kind of person attacks someone on their activation day?"

"Proto Man." Time Man heard the robot barely suppress a snort of laughter upon his reply. The robot looked over at him, his grin quickly vanishing and the suspicious look returning.

"Who sent you here?" he questioned, his grip on his weapon tightening ever so slightly. It took a moment for Time Man to realize that he was actually afraid. The robot most likely was not afraid of him, but rather who he would tell. Time Man met his gaze.

"No one," he answered honestly, sitting down next to the other robot. "The party was getting to loud for my liking, so I came out here to relax. You know, your brothers have been looking for you. Star Man even came to the lab and asked everyone to keep an eye out for you. Were you stolen?"

"You could say that," the robot muttered bitterly. Time Man had spent enough time working at the hospital once his work at the Chronos Institute was finished to know when someone was hiding something. He'd seen that look and heard that tone of voice when someone wasn't being entirely honest on their situation or how they felt about something. It annoyed him to no end, especially when it was his job to help them.

"Do not lie to me," he snapped, a little more harshly than he had meant to. He lowered his voice as he continued, "I will not pry into your personal life too much if you do not want to talk about it, but I will warn you now that I do not take kindly to vague answers, half truths or comments created simply to avoid the conversation. If you do not wish to talk about it just tell me outright and I will drop the subject. If the reason behind your secretive demeanor is concern that I will tell someone, then I will promise you right now that our conversation will be kept a secret from my family. I will not tell them that I met you up here or that I even heard you were here."

"You're the first person who's ever bothered to listen to my problems before," the robot chuckled. "Or ordered me around aside from Wily."

"I do not take kindly to comments created to avoid a conversation, _Enker_ ," Time Man repeated slowly. Enker's smile grew a little.

"Okay, okay. Do you really promise not to tell anyone?" Time Man nodded in response.

"It is not healthy for you to keep secrets for too long," he said. "If you feel the need to rant, go ahead."

"I'm not actually a Wily robot," Enker blurted suddenly. "Well, I am, but Wily didn't build me. He stole me like he stole you and your brothers. Except, well, my creator never reported me stolen-probably out of fear-and so no one ever knew. I didn't even know until very recently when I heard Wily talking about it to Shadow Man."

It took a few moments for Time Man to completely process all this new information. He almost thought this was some sort of dream, but then he reminded himself that robots could not dream. His normally professional facade quickly vanished.

"I-y-you're not-?" he squeaked and shut his mouth instantly as he realized just how stupid he sounded. Enker nodded solemnly to answer him, knowing what he was trying to say.

"I left," he continued his story. "because I wanted to find my original creator. I can't willingly betray Wily, but I don't think hunting down my original creator would be betraying him, nor do I think he would even care.

"You know, I've always had this feeling that I didn't quite belong, that someone wasn't right. I always thought that I was built for something else and that my current programming was a last minute change. Apparently, I was right. I don't remember my original creator because Wily stole me before I was completely finished and finished me himself.

"I don't know my creator-I don't even know where to start looking-but I want to. I want to find them and get to know them. I want to know if I was the only robot they built or if there were others. I want to know what my original purpose was, why someone would choose to build me..."

Time Man listened to him as he rambled on, keeping silent as he slowly edged a little closer to the golden robot. When Enker trailed off with a sorrowful laugh at the end, he reached out and rubbed his back.

"I do not know if there is anything I can do," he said softly. "but I can at least keep an eye out for your creator in case they show up in the city. I am sorry you had to go through all of this. If my family had known sooner, we could have-"

"Stop." Enker quickly grabbed Time Man's hand and squeezed it gently. "I thank you for listening, but you shouldn't involve yourself in this. You could get hurt. Wily doesn't know that I know about this. Just forget this ever happened."

"I am not just going to forget something like this!" Time Man leaped to his feet in an uncharacteristic burst of anger. "Wily cannot keep something like that from you! He cannot keep stealing robots and avoid punishment for it!"

"And who's going to stop him?" Enker asked. "Not you, surely?" Time Man's shoulders slumped in defeat as his anger melted away and he sat back down.

"No, but Rock could," he answered. "I know you cannot willingly betray Wily, but what if you were to be 'knocked unconscious' and 'dragged back to Light labs against your will and his programming removed'?" Enker tilted his head to the side, forcing a smile.

"I don't think that would work out too well," he said. "You would never be able to beat me in a fight and I wouldn't let that happen willingly. Besides, I'd rather no one but my creator tamper with my programming right now. And I'd rather your brothers not know about this." Time Man nodded in understanding.

"I wish you luck," he said quickly. "on finding your creator. I should probably head back home."

"Hey, wait." Enker reached out and placed his hand over Time Man's, stopping him. "You've listened to my problems so how about I listen to yours? You've obviously got a lot on your mind too, judging from that outburst of yours."

Time Man knew he should have just insisted that he was fine and returned home without another word. He didn't enjoy talking about his problems, especially to a stranger he only knew as an enemy and a threat to his brother, but at that moment it didn't seem fair to leave Enker in the dark.

"I hate myself," he admitted. "I hate that I'm incomplete and so weak. I know I shouldn't have been activated-I probably wouldn't have been if Wily hadn't stolen me-and Doctor Light should have just let me be deactivated when my work at the Chronos Institute was done.

"I'm probably the weakest robot in the family, weaker than Roll even. I love my brothers, I really do, but I hate the way they look at me like I'm a defenseless little toddler. Elec Man is by far the worst. He claims he's just overprotective because he's my older brother and our leader, but I know that isn't entirely true." He tried to keep his voice monotone, but he would frequently stop mid sentence as his voice began to crack and shake with emotion to compose himself. Enker frowned every time he did this.

"Here you are lecturing me about keeping things bottled up and yet you aren't much better," he said once Time Man was done. "It's not your fault you're incomplete, so stop acting like it. You're a great person. If you weren't, you wouldn't be here having a group therapy session with the guy who's been trying to murder your brother." He hesitantly reached out and hugged the smaller robot. Time Man tensed up for a moment. He then threw his arms around Enker, burying his face in his shoulder as he started to sob. Enker held him for a while, staying quiet. He wasn't entirely sure what to say or how to comfort the Light bot, but it seemed the hug was enough. He continued to hold him even after Time Man had stopped crying.

"Thanks," Time Man mumbled, awkwardly pulling away from Enker. "I really should get home now, though. Elec Man will start getting worried if I am not back within the next hour or so. It was nice speaking to you. Again, I wish you luck on finding your creator." He quickly turned and began to make his way down the hill.

"Hey, Time?" Time Man paused and glanced over his shoulder as Enker continued, "The sky's supposed to be clear tomorrow and I hear there's going to be a meteor shower. Would you like to come by here and watch it with me so we can rant about how annoying our families are?" A rare smile formed on Time Man's lips.

"I don't see why not," he replied.


End file.
